


my mother once told me she would have named me laura

by Duck_Life



Series: X-Men Shorties [3]
Category: X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Coffee Shops, Friendship, Gen, Names, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-10-14 09:07:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17505692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duck_Life/pseuds/Duck_Life
Summary: X-23 gets to know her new roommates, and they get to know her. Set when Laura first arrives at the X-Mansion in X-Men #165. Originally posted to Tumblr.





	my mother once told me she would have named me laura

Rachel and the girl who can turn intangible— Kitty, her name’s Kitty, she remembers— take her out for cider and biscotti after Logan tells them they’re all going to be roommates. The two of them are so bright and loud that it’s almost difficult to look at them. She wishes she could just turn them down a little, the way you turn a knob on a stereo. 

“So…” Kitty says finally, looking at her. She and Rachel are nice, sure, but it feels like they’re wary around her. Like they might be scared of her. She doesn’t want anyone to feel scared of her. “X… that’s not your name, is it? Logan called you X-23, but… I thought that was like a codename.” X-23 frowns, confused. Kitty explains. “Like, my name’s Kitty but my codename is Shadowcat. And Rachel is Marvel Girl. Do you… have a name besides X-23?”

She looks down at her hands folded in her lap, thinks about the claws hidden there, just below the surface. She fidgets, twining her fingers together and then apart again. “I…” she starts, unsure. Putting her thoughts into words is so difficult. It’s different with Logan; he always seems to know what she means. Just like her mother used to. “My mother gave me a name,” she says finally, looking up at Rachel and Kitty. “As she was dying, my mother gave me a name. But…” She looks back down at her hands. “It wasn’t my name. It isn’t my name. I don’t want to be called what she said my name was.” 

Kitty says, “Why, what was it?” and Rachel jabs an elbow into her side. 

“That’s okay,” Rachel says instead. “Your name doesn’t have to be what your parents named you. I mean, Kitty’s parents named her Katherine but she wants to be called Kitty.” 

X-23 bites her lip and looks down at the cider in front of her. It was hot when she tried to sip it before. She’s never had cider before, and she doesn’t know when it’s going to be cool enough to drink. “I miss my mom,” she says finally, quietly, because it’s true and because it’s a feeling that feels normal, that feels human and not like something a weapon might say. She really doesn’t want them to think of her as a weapon. “And she was… I miss her. And she gave me a name. It was a nice name, really. It just isn’t my name.”

“That’s okay,” Rachel says again. “Parents don’t know everything.”

“But she was my mother,” she says, growing upset. “She used her dying breath to tell me something and if… if I don’t honor that—”

“What was your mother’s name?” Kitty asks suddenly. This time, Rachel doesn’t elbow her.

“Sarah.”

“Sarah,” Kitty repeats. She looks at Rachel and then back at X-23. “No, you don’t look like a Sarah. Have you ever thought about what names you like?”

She slumps in her seat. “Yes,” she says. “But I never… I don’t know. I don’t know.” Words, again, are hard. She wishes she could tell them what it’s like. She used to sit in the park and listen to mothers yelling their children’s names, listening for a name that sounded right. 

“What if your name was something kind of like Sarah?” Kitty suggests. “Like… Mara, or Tara. Or Lara. Ooh, Lara Croft.”

Rachel shakes her head. “No, not Lara. What about…”

“Laura,” she says quietly. She looks up at Rachel and Kitty, gauging their reactions. Both of them are beaming at her. “Laura,” she says again, louder. “My name is Laura.” 

Rachel holds out her hand. She stares at it. “You’re supposed to shake it,” Kitty whispers. She takes Rachel’s hand and pumps it once up and down, which she thinks she might’ve seen on a TV show. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Laura,” Rachel says. 

“Yeah, Laura, welcome to the X-Men,” Kitty says. 

When Laura sips her cider, it’s the perfect temperature. 


End file.
